This morning’s entire program is devoted to our host's interview with Tufts University Professor Thomas P. Abowd. His new book is "Colonial Jerusalem, The Spatial Construction of Identity and Difference in a City of Myth, 1948–2012."

If you want to understand what is happening to Jerusalem as we speak, and you want to view it through the eyes of an anthropologist, you want to read Tom’s book. The Israeli narrative which dominates the understanding of most Americans, and virtually all of the Congress, is a narrative based mostly on a false history fabricated by Israel to justify its theft of Palestinian land to build the Israeli state. It started before 1948. It continues today. Colonial Jerusalem tells the real story, and we need these kinds of accounts to puncture the Israeli fabrication with facts…historical facts. This book can be an important tool for those of whose care about this issue and are working to bring justice to the Palestinian people. It begins with telling the truth to the American people. So we urge you to read Colonial Jerusalem, by Tom Abowd, published by Syracuse University Press. Tom joins the so-called new historians such as Ilan Pappé in providing us with the real narrative…the real story…the facts, which speak for themselves.

Quoting from the publisher's web page for Colonial Jerusalem (http://syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/spring-2014/colonial-jerusalem.html):

In one of the few anthropological works focusing on a contemporary Middle Eastern city, Colonial Jerusalem explores a vibrant urban center at the core of the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This book shows how colonialism, far from being simply a fixture of the past as is often suggested, remains a crucial component of Palestinian and Israeli realities today. Abowd deftly illuminates everyday life under Israel’s long military occupation as it is defined by processes and conditions of "apartness" and separation as Palestinians are increasingly regulated and controlled. Abowd examines how both national communities are progressively divided by walls, checkpoints, and separate road networks in one of the most segregated cities in the world. Drawing upon recent theories on racial politics, colonialism, and urban spatial dynamics, Colonial Jerusalem analyzes the politics of myth, history, and memory across an urban landscape integral to the national cosmologies of both Palestinians and Israelis and meaningful to all communities.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews